And then passed it onto his daughter, often at the end of a wind and rain-splattered platform.
Copying down train numbers.
Which is why we keep finding ourselves seeking out all manner of train-related nonsense when we’re away.
A lot of which is pretty good it must be said.
Such as Flam Railway in Norway on our MSC www.msccruises.ie trip up the fjords.Of course dipping our toes in the fjords only left us wanting to submerge ourselves in the whole country.
Travel Department will complete the odyssey with Oslo as well as Bergen which I’ll be only too happy to revisit.
So you’ll cruise (let’s make that we’ll) along the UNESCO World Heritage site of Naeroyfjord.
You’ll see the glaciers and waterfalls of the former Viking stomping ground of Hardangerfjord.
And stand on a mountain top to take in the Eidfjord.
Before you enjoy the Flam Railway, one of the world’s most besutiful and steepest normal-gauge railway lines.
It was foggy when we went (it won’t be when you go) so we couldn’t see those mischievous trolls!
Prices start from €1569pp for seven nights including return flights.
B&B/half-board accommodation, guided excursions, a fjord cruise and a Flam railway journey.
Thirty years working to a deadline and Black Friday can feel like a pressure I don’t need. Which is why I’ve latched onto Click&Go… http://www.clickandgo.com.
Who see the day as a springboard for their offers.
I dipped my toe again in Barcelona’s waters this year, 17 years after my first foray there.
And I found Christopher Columbus, arms open, just as welcome as ever.
Click&Go has three nights in the 4* Onix Ceo Hotel with return flights from Dublin from €189pp. For Travel in January.
We’ve got American friends of my favourite cousin who lives in Chevy Chase, Maryland which is really the outskirts of Washington DC in town so I’m off to talk America.
I will report back and until then enjoy your Black Friday deals and…
Mark questioned ‘how could the Walll be a symbol of USSR?’
And, yes. it is important to say that this was the GDR and that the greater political bloc was the Soviet-driven Warsaw Pact.
Berlin fixture: The Brandenburg Gate Photo by Adrien Olichon on Pexels.com
Mark also rightly pointed out that I had focused merely on the exodus to the West through Hungary and that I had missed a lot of history/change before.
And he helpfully pointed me in the direction of http://www.the-berlin-wall.com for video clips and chronology on the key dates and events leading up to the Fall of the Wall.
Like I always say the best way to find out about a city, country, resort is to listen to the people on the ground… and to go there!
If you want to know more about Berlin then put yourself in the hands of Click & Go http://www.clickandgo.com who are offering a City Break from €159pp in January.
Philly state of mind
What a cracker: Liberty Bell in Philly
I’m an impatient old sod.
Which is a bit off when I ask you to be so patient while I go off on all manner of tangents.
Which I did when I went to Washington DC for the American Travel Fair, IPW 2017 http://www.ipw.com,
And I also had a day out to hit Philadelphia.
Knowing I would only have half a dozen hours there I kept looking at my watch as I stood in the queue.
And I regaled the driver with my compelling need to make up time on the road when he eventually got going.
It wasn’t as if the Bell was going anywhere.
But I was as excited as an American Literature and History grad I was as excited as a kid at Christmas.
Rocky and Jocky: In Philly
It was crackin’…
And I also got bristly with the locals.
When I asked that they didn’t take the flag down at the Town Hall until I’d taken a selfie.
I was a more attractive proposition than the previous candidate for the spare room in the girls’ Belfast home – I promised to keep my clothes on.
The guy before me was a naturist.
The thing is that naturism depends on everybody being in on it,
Now there is every type of cruise on the planet so you won’t be surprised to hear that there is one as well for naturists… https://cruisebare.com.
I‘m breathing in: On board Oasis of the Seas
Though I was and am indebted to my friends at Lonely Planet http://www.lonelyplanet.com for putting me onto this.
Not that I’m going to suggest it to The Scary One.
Although it does look as if it has a plus side in that you never have to worry about getting into your penguin suit or cocktail dress to sit at the captain’s table.
I’m not even going to ask if that’s a thing on this cruise ship.
I usually like to keep my clothes on when I go cruising.
As you’ll all know by now I spent a thoroughly enjoyable few days walking, talking, swallowing and swallying in Tenerife with www.CanariaWays.com.
And I will be compiling it all in a grown-up article.
Tenerife calling
However you get there, get to Tenerife.
TUI is offering Marella Cruises on the Explorer, inside cabin, all-inclusive seven nights from €995pps. http://www.tui.ie.
It just clicks
Now Click&Go http://www.clickandgo.com are a mighty fine holiday provider and will feel genuinely proud of picking up their Best Cruise performance for Rest of the World from Royal Caribbean at an awards ceremony in Waterford.
But there’s no point in me being modest. I’m thinking that my performance at a particular Karaoke bar of Chuck Berry’s Memphis, Tennessee would surely deserve at least joint billing.
Refelections of Corfu. Photo by Alexander Mils on Pexels.com
I was spoken for, but that didn’t stop the keyboard singer at the bar who was glancing our way on our honeymoon in Corfu.
The besotted newly titled Mrs M drew my attention to the singer’s attentions.
With the ouzo filling my bladder I then had cause to pass the crooner by on the way to the rest room .
Where I noticed they were still smiling at me on my way back.
At which point I needed to inform my new wife: ‘Sorry, he’s not looking at you, it’s me he likes!’
Again, I’m only telling you this as a lead-in to an offer. TUI http://www.tui.com has seven nights S/C at the 2* Ekati 2, Kavos from €399pps, departing Dublin on September 13.
Which corresponds with our 25th wedding anniversary.
I love Malta
Bay of plenty: Valletta. Photo by ines bahr on Pexels.com
You’d think that there was an imaginary hand of fate at play… or that the Scary One has been phoning around my Travel buddies.
Malta was where on a hot, hot day, I bent down in exhaustion and she screamed YES.
We were particularly taken by Malta’s smaller sister island of Gozo.
Now I’m going to fly a kite here and suggest that the Scary One would like to return. And fly a kite…
The second edition of the Gozo International Kite and Wind Festival will take place there form October 18-20.
Concorde Travel http://www.concordetravel.ie has seven nights B&B at the 4* Seashells Resort, Qawra for €599, depart Dublin on October 14.
Or you can depart Cork on October 17 and stay at the 4* all-inclusive Seabank Resort & Spa, Mellieha for €769.
And they’re off
The Prancing Horse. Photo by Zachary DeBottis on Pexels.com
It was from my Dear Old Dad that I inherited the love of sport. That said neither of us got motor racing.
Apart from commonly repeated allusion I never heard him show any interest in the sport, and I use that term loosely.
The one reference point he had was in his common jibe at my Mum’s driving: ‘Stirling Moss,’ he would shriek and laugh uproariously.
He always enjoyed his own jokes, though my sainted Mum never did see the funny side.
As Formula 1 returns after its midseason break and Lewis Hamilton has a procession to his 72nd title it’s as well to flag up a motor racing holiday thrill.
All of which I know a thing or two about… 
My father-in-law taught Casey Jones all he knew.
Of course dipping our toes in the fjords only left us wanting to submerge ourselves in the whole country.
